Stephen Colbert slams Trump's first State of the Union address: 'Better luck next year'

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The Late Show went live to take on Donald Trump‘s official State of the Union address – and the jokes were free-flowing.

“We are live right now and barely conscious following a 90-minute speech,” host Stephen Colbert declared, whose nightly show is usually taped a few hours before airing. He declared that though the “bar for success was pretty low”, there were still a few surprises: mainly the sight of Trump being able to lift a glass with one hand.

Trump’s speech saw him address the devastating natural disasters which affected the US in 2017: “We have endured floods and fires and storms.” To which Colbert swiftly added, “And Stormys. Don’t forget her. She was one of the most expensive disasters for you, personally.”

And though Trump sent out a message that, in the face of these tragedies, “we always will pull through together, always”, Colbert pointed out the hollowness of that statement. “A comforting message to the people of Puerto Rico, once they have electricity to turn on their TVs,” he said, adding that a million people are still without power.

Indeed, much of Colbert’s response to his speech boiled down to demonstrating the startling irony in Trump’s constant, vague aspirations about American ideals.

His declaration that, “we all share the same home. The same heart. The same destiny. And the same great American flag”, was met with: “Really? Because down in Charlottesville, I saw your supporters carrying two other flags.”

Trump's "call on Congress to empower every cabinet secretary with the authority to reward good works and to remove federal employees who undermine the public trust or fail the American people" had clear ulterior motives. Colbert, doing an impression of Trump, added to the statement: "Whoever they are, be they the director or the assistant director of the FBI."

Indeed, in all these empty gestures and grand proclamations, one topic was fervently off the table: the investigations into his campaign’s alleged ties to Russia. “Better luck next year,” were Colbert’s concluding thoughts.

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